Anniversary Design

Five years ago, when I joined this team, I could have never dreamed of the extent of my involvement. Along the way, I’ve had the chance to meet some amazing people, and work on a project that to this day continues to surprise me. What surprises me is the rich history that comes with the car and the team itself. While the goal of going supersonic may seem crazy to some, when put in perspective of everything that has been done so far, it doesn’t seem quite so crazy.

One of the first projects that I embarked upon after joining this team was to redesign the North American Eagle website. With it coming up on five years since that was launched, I knew that I wanted to do something that was really special for the website. Over the last several years, I have spent a lot of time trying out different ideas, making incremental improvements to the content each time, and overhauls of the design itself. Then, earlier this year, I published a story series about the North American Eagle, chronicling the team’s journey over the last several years. What it reminded me of more than anything else is the rich history that stands behind this car, the thing that really made it special. That’s why this new website is as much about the content as it is a new design. Today, I’m beyond excited to be able to share with you the Anniversary Design.

Starting with the design, I wanted something that would make you want to explore every facet of the site. To make you wonder what would happen as you scrolled down the page. One of the major introductions with the Anniversary Design is animations. They are included throughout the site, and while subtle, they are a simple bit of joy that makes you excited to see what is new. When it came to colors, the focus was on the colors that make up the North American Eagle; red, black, and white. Throughout the Anniversary Design, they are used in combination to create a beautiful canvas that divides the page into different sections. We’ve have also heard your feedback, which is why the font is now easier to read than ever, using larger fonts, and better colors! There is a wealth of changes throughout the site, and I encourage you to see just how many you can find.

When it came to content, it was important to me that it would truly immerse you in the story of this project. That is why every piece of the Anniversary Design is centered around beautiful imagery, combined with brand new content that tells this story in new ways. From the Project Overview page to the History of the project, we have rebuilt these pages from the ground up, to tell our story in new ways. One of the most important parts of our website over the past few years has been the Project Updates, which is where I would like to share some numbers. In the past five years since our first redesign, we have published over 287 project updates, reaching over a quarter of a million people! We want to continue that for the life of this project, but we also want to do something new. As a part of the Anniversary Design, we are introducing the Journey Series, a new set of stories going forward that will tell our journey at each major milestone. These will be published every few months depending on what we are actively working on with the car. The first entry in the Journey Series will be available in the next few weeks.

There are countless other changes that we have introduced in the Anniversary Design that I could not possibly include all of in this update. Our story is precious to us, which is why we want to share it with you. Now we ask for your help, in sharing our story with the world.

About

The North American Eagle project began as nothing more than an idea. That idea was to take a jet fighter, and turn it into the fastest racing machine in history. Together, Ed Shadle and Keith Zanghi founded a project with a goal to go supersonic, and break the World Land Speed Record of 763 MPH. Along the way, countless people have joined together to push the boundaries of speed, to see just how fast this car can go.

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